02 June 2009

A New (to me) Poem

I just bought Essential Pleasures, the new poetry anthology edited by Robert Pinsky, creator of the Favorite Poem Project, for the library. I think Robert Pinsky heads up brilliant poetry projects. The poems he selects are notably accessible and he includes a nice range of time periods and styles. Or maybe he just includes a significant number of my favorites. The new anthology encourages listening to poetry read aloud (http://poemsoutloud.net is promoted in the book) and includes a CD of selected poems.

This is the end of Amy Lowell's poem "The Letter." I discovered it in Essential Pleasures.

I am tired, Beloved, of chafing my heart againstThe want of you;Of squeezing it into little inkdrops,And posting it.And I scald alone, here, under the fireOf the great moon.

Holy cow! Have you ever heard anything as descriptive as chafing my heart against the want of you? I can't get over it. It's too good.